Zaid Miah

Zaid Miah (14 October 1967-2 July 2006) was a commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas and a member of the shura of the Gaza Strip. Miah was one of the masterminds behind the rocket program of Hamas, and he was one of the Hamas leaders targeted during Operation Falling Comet in 2006.

Biography
Zaid Miah was born on 14 October 1967 in the Nuseirat refugee camp of Gaza Strip to a family of exiled Palestinians from Beersheba (Be'er Sheva) in Israel. Miah was raised in a dangerous environment, crowded with homeless and penniless Palestinian refugees. He joined Hamas in 1988, hoping to free the Gazans from their siege by the Israelis. Miah masterminded a series of rocket attacks against Israel in the late 1990s, and was responsible for creating five rocket sites in Gaza City, with two of them being located in hospitals, one being located in a school, another being located in a private residence, and another being in a mosque. Since they were located in civilian centers, Israel could not destroy them without civilian losses. Israel added him to their wanted list in 2001 during the Second Intifada, and he was one of the Hamas leaders targeted in Operation Falling Comet in 2006. Zaid Miah hid in a mosque in the Nazla district of Gaza City, where Imam Hussein Zahir harbored Hamas ammunition.

On 2 July 2006, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) airstriked the mosque, destroying the building along with the rocket launching site and the ammunition storage in the basement. Zaid Miah's body was found among the rubble along with a few other Hamas militants, and his death was confirmed on 10 July via fingerprint DNA.